For the past month or so, the ladybug and twizzlers and I  have been playing around with the Better Builders (aka Magneatos) from Guide Craft. We were first introduced to these wonderful toys during a family outing to Wonder Works Children’s Museum during our Spring Break. The twizzlers loved them, and while I thought they would definitely be able to work on gross motor skills with these magnets, I was super surprised to see how much other people in my family would love them. Yes, I’m talking about the cellist.

When I first got my box, I had all of these grandiose ideas about what I was going to do with the magnets in regard to a homeschool lesson about the laws of magnetism, and then this happened. My mother came to visit, and instead art class ensued.

She and Sir Twizzler built a stethoscope for the mini doctor to wear around for a while. Please excuse his pajamas, as he is a very laid back doctor.

The ladybug decided to go a different route with her Magneatos. She wanted to create a flower, and I was totally impressed with her perseverance in finding all of the pieces for the type of flower that she and her Mor-Mor were creating. It took them a while to realize that there were not going to be enough yellow pieces to complete all of the petals, but they were pretty darn proud of their end product.

It’s not often that a product for a child impresses me on all accounts. Clean up is super easy, since all you have to literally do is put one magnetized piece down, and let it attract the other pieces for one quick and fun way to put them away. The handy red storage container also makes sure that you don’t accidentally put your magnetic pieces in with things that it should not be with.

I love that we can use these to provide lessons in science (laws of magnetism), art (shapes and colors) and math ( longer/shorter.) It really helps to have educational tools that the parents not only find helpful, but that they children think are awesome as well.

The packaging wasn’t over the top for these and that was just perfect. Essentially, what you see on the box is what you got IN the box. No fluff (which I loved) and nothing to put together. The magnets came in a plastic package and the storage box was packaged flat to limit the amount of extra room that was needed. Super simple for this simple loving mommy.

The colors are bright and aesthetically attractive to all the little (and almost teenaged) hands in my family. They stay in constant rotation when the kids have free play for the day. Seeing them enthralled with the click that happens when the magnets connect is pretty darn cute. However, the BEST part of these is seeing them try to work around the magnets repelling each other. Their little eyebrows furrow until the figure that they have to only turn ONE magnet the opposite way in order to get them to stick together. It’s fascinating seeing little minds at work! Of course the MAJOR love of theirs is building all of the towers that were available in the booklet that comes along with the magnets. This one is one of many that the cellist “helped” the ladybug and twizzlers with

Of course, I loved them so much that I want to give one away to my great readers. You’ll love them, I promise. Just click the link to the rafflecopter entry form, and follow the instructions for the mandatory entry. That’s all you have to do, but as usual, you can do the others to increase your chances. Good luck, and happy learning! This giveaway is only open to residents of the U.S.

a Rafflecopter giveaway